By Denise Hruby
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
Thailand and Laos have asked regional neighbors Cambodia and Vietnam to join a cross-border anti-drug-trafficking operation, an effort the Cambodian government said it was pleased to assist with.
Thai Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya told local media that the country would help Cambodia and Vietnam to join the “Safe Mekong” operation, which already coordinates anti-narcotics intelligence between China, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
“The Thai government is… ready to support funding and equipment to neighboring countries through a project set out to enhance anti-drug capacities of the neighboring nations,” Koomchaya said.
The project's first phase - implemented Jan. 12 - March 12 this year and lauded a big success - saw the arrest of almost 3,400 alleged drug traffickers and the seizure of close to 26 million methamphetamine pills, along with 1,556 kg in heroin and 179 kg of opium.
The border between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, also known as the “Golden Triangle”, is one of the world's top opium producers.
In its annual survey on opium in the region, UNODC estimates that cultivation in the Golden Triangle has tripled since 2006. In 2014, the region produced an estimated 762 tons of opium and 76 tons of heroin.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that the trafficking of drugs, in particular methamphetamine and heroin, generates more than $31 billion for organized crime groups in the region.
Myanmar is the world's second largest opium producer, after Afghanistan, but authorities and the United Nations warn that the production of synthetic drugs is also on the rise.
UNODC estimates for East and Southeast Asia and Oceania show that methamphetamine seizures have almost quadrupled from about 11 tons in 2008 to almost 42 tons in 2013.
"Increased cross-border trade, regional integration and reduced border restrictions in Southeast Asia have also created opportunity for increasing the cross-border trafficking of drugs and the precursors needed to make them," Jeremy Douglas, Regional Representative of UNODC in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a press release.
In one of the biggest drug seizures of the region, Myanmar police last month confiscated 27 million methamphetamine tablets worth an estimated $100 million from a truck in the former capital Yangon, according to local media reports.
